Monday, September 03, 2007

Hairspray

Hair is down these days, but in the early 1960's it was UP, and this became the inspiration for a film from the early 1980's called 'Hairspray', by cult film director John Waters, featuring cult transvestite Divine.

It was a step into the mainstream for both of them, featuring kids at school and a local TV dance show. Lots of song and dance and dealing woith themes of being different (fat and black) and of integration. Not a gay film at all, but in terms of being an outsider, it attracted a gay audience just like Muriel's Wedding would a decade later.

Anyway, Hairspray became a Broadway musical and is now out again as a film of the musical (of a film). Now altogther in the mainstream, with big name actors and actresses, it was great fun. All very sweet and missing the bite of the original. How odd to see John Travolta from the 1970's films Saturday Night fever and Grease now take the place of Divine as the overweight mother, Edna Turnblatt. How times have changed... homosexuals were still invisible in most western societies when Grease was such a big hit with the schoolgirls and boys of the late-80's.

We saw the film on Saturday night, after which we went for our now traditional beer and dance at de Prik, which was fun. In the meantime, Hairspray was being shown for free at the new Cultural Centre which opened quite near where we live, at Timorplein, yesterday. An old buildimg has now been converted to a youth hostel-theatre-cinema-restaurant-bar-internet space-training centre. Now, this is just the sort of thing that can be done with tax money... so keep it rolling... Let's hope it all works out there. Maybe we will try a Friday Club Avond there one day.